Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
(This sermon is a shorter sermon due to being delivered via Facebook/Live during the Covid-19 shutdown)
Today is the sixth time we have gathered together to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ via the internet. Aren’t you thankful that we have this technology available so that we CAN worship together? I know that I am. And, Pastor Karenlee and I thoroughly enjoy our Wednesday evening gatherings online as well.
Before we entered into the Easter Season with Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday we had been going through the Lord’s Prayer thought by thought. And we were examining how that connected with the teaching found in Psalm 119. We were also examining how it could be used as a template for our personal prayers; laying out important facets of prayer that we otherwise might be neglecting.
Please open your Bibles to Matthew 6:5-8 which we will read in a few minutes.
The first Sunday of the Coronavirus lockdown we took a look at “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed by Your name.” and we saw that:
Prayer is to be directed only to Our Father in heaven. This is reinforced throughout Scripture. No exceptions.
And, prayer should always include adoration and worship of the Lord for He is worthy of praise.
The next Sunday we examined, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
Here we saw that our priorities in life should be subordinate to God’s will for our lives so that His goals are accomplished.
As Jesus said to His Father in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not My will but Yours be done.” Luke 22:42b
This week we will be looking at the thought, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Please read along in your Bibles as Pastor Karenlee reads
Matthew 6:5-8
(Prayer for help)
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
When I started looking at this verse this time it struck me that it almost sounded like it was a command; as if we were saying, “GIVE ME THIS DAY MY DAILY BREAD!”
I do not believe it was meant that way at all.
What does Matthew 6:8 tell us?
Our heavenly Father knows what we need before we even ask.
The Lord knows we need food to keep us alive, right?
Can we trust Him?
What does one of our memory Scriptures say?
Matthew 6:31-33
“Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Look at the parallelism here …
Matthew 6:33 says “seek first the Kingdom of God” and the Lord’s prayer says “Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done …”
And …
Matthew 6:32 says “Your heavenly Father knows that you need (food, water and clothing” and the Lord’s prayer says “give us this day our daily bread”
Our heavenly Father knows we need to eat! Right?
When we say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We are only asking for what He has already promised to give to His faithful children.
What else could “Give us this day our daily bread” mean?
Let’s look at a couple of Scriptures and see …
In John 6:35 Jesus declares, “I Am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.”
Was Jesus trying to tell us that He is an actual loaf of bread and that we can slice Him up, eat Him one time and be satisfied forever? Or was He using a spiritual metaphor showing us that His Word is the spiritual Bread of Life?
In Deuteronomy 8:3b Moses says, “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of (Yahweh) the LORD.”
And, not surprisingly, Jesus rebuked the devil when He was temped by saying, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Do you think just maybe that that is the kind of daily bread that is most important to our lives?
Do you think if we were to partake of the daily bread of the Word of God that we might have a greater reverence and awe when we come to the Lord in prayer? (Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed is Your name …)
Do you think if we were to partake of the daily bread of the Word of God that we might have a greater desire for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven?
Let me give you an example of the desperation of some people for the things of this world.
I try to check the church bank accounts online several times each week (pastor of a small church). Not because there is great wealth in there and not because I fear we will run out of funds but because there are many people who try to break into bank accounts every day in order to steal what is not theirs! They do not rely on the Lord to give them their daily bread so the attempt to steal from others! So, I check to make sure that if such a thing happens to the church accounts I am able to notify the bank at once and minimize the damage.
Why am I telling you this?
(This was during the COVID-19 virus pandemic in the spring of 2020)
We are all aware that because of the Coronavirus pandemic that the government is sending out checks to nearly everyone in the United States.
The other day I went to log on to the bank web site and I got a message saying that there were so many people trying to access the bank website to see if their relief checks had come in that the website was having difficulty handling all of the requests.
Everyone seemed to be anxious, even desperate to get their hands on the money.
What would it be like if we were all that anxious to feed on the Word of God each day?
What would it be like if we were to start each day with a prayer of honor and thanksgiving to our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be His name!
What would it be like if we were to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that we truly DID desire that His kingdom would come and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven?
What would it be like?
Is the Lord worthy of all praise and honor and worship? Yes He is!
Is the Lord’s will the best plan for this entire planet and for my little life as well? Yes it is!
Do I desire His will for my life above my own?
Do you desire His will for your life above your own will?
Only you can answer this!
Will the Lord provide for my physical AND spiritual nourishment each day if I make my life a living sacrifice for Him? (Rom. 12:1-2)
Yes He will!
What about you?
Is the Lord providing your daily bread both physically and spiritually?
Closing thoughts and prayer …
